Premium
Building a genome engineering toolbox in nonmodel prokaryotic microbes
Author(s) -
Freed Emily,
Fenster Jacob,
Smolinski Sharon L.,
Walker Julie,
Henard Calvin A.,
Gill Ryan,
Eckert Carrie A.
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
biotechnology and bioengineering
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.136
H-Index - 189
eISSN - 1097-0290
pISSN - 0006-3592
DOI - 10.1002/bit.26727
Subject(s) - bioproducts , biochemical engineering , synthetic biology , toolbox , biomass (ecology) , metabolic engineering , computer science , biomanufacturing , microbiology and biotechnology , biofuel , computational biology , biology , engineering , ecology , genetics , gene , programming language
The realization of a sustainable bioeconomy requires our ability to understand and engineer complex design principles for the development of platform organisms capable of efficient conversion of cheap and sustainable feedstocks (e.g., sunlight, CO 2 , and nonfood biomass) into biofuels and bioproducts at sufficient titers and costs. For model microbes, such as Escherichia coli , advances in DNA reading and writing technologies are driving the adoption of new paradigms for engineering biological systems. Unfortunately, microbes with properties of interest for the utilization of cheap and renewable feedstocks, such as photosynthesis, autotrophic growth, and cellulose degradation, have very few, if any, genetic tools for metabolic engineering. Therefore, it is important to develop “design rules” for building a genetic toolbox for novel microbes. Here, we present an overview of our current understanding of these rules for the genetic manipulation of prokaryotic microbes and the available genetic tools to expand our ability to genetically engineer nonmodel systems.